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Glennard
did
himself
injustice
,
it
was
from
the
unexpected
discovery
of
his
own
pettiness
that
he
chiefly
suffered
.
Our
self
-
esteem
is
apt
to
be
based
on
the
hypothetical
great
act
we
have
never
had
occasion
to
perform
;
and
even
the
most
self
-
scrutinizing
modesty
credits
itself
negatively
with
a
high
standard
of
conduct
.
Glennard
had
never
thought
himself
a
hero
;
but
he
had
been
certain
that
he
was
incapable
of
baseness
.
We
all
like
our
wrong
-
doings
to
have
a
becoming
cut
,
to
be
made
to
order
,
as
it
were
;
and
Glennard
found
himself
suddenly
thrust
into
a
garb
of
dishonor
surely
meant
for
a
meaner
figure
.
The
immediate
result
of
his
first
weeks
of
wretchedness
was
the
resolve
to
go
to
town
for
the
winter
.
He
knew
that
such
a
course
was
just
beyond
the
limit
of
prudence
;
but
it
was
easy
to
allay
the
fears
of
Alexa
who
,
scrupulously
vigilant
in
the
management
of
the
household
,
preserved
the
American
wife
’
s
usual
aloofness
from
her
husband
’
s
business
cares
.
Glennard
felt
that
he
could
not
trust
himself
to
a
winter
’
s
solitude
with
her
.
He
had
an
unspeakable
dread
of
her
learning
the
truth
about
the
letters
,
yet
could
not
be
sure
of
steeling
himself
against
the
suicidal
impulse
of
avowal
.
His
very
soul
was
parched
for
sympathy
;
he
thirsted
for
a
voice
of
pity
and
comprehension
.
But
would
his
wife
pity
?
Would
she
understand
?
Again
he
found
himself
brought
up
abruptly
against
his
incredible
ignorance
of
her
nature
.
The
fact
that
he
knew
well
enough
how
she
would
behave
in
the
ordinary
emergencies
of
life
,
that
he
could
count
,
in
such
contingencies
,
on
the
kind
of
high
courage
and
directness
he
had
always
divined
in
her
,
made
him
the
more
hopeless
of
her
entering
into
the
torturous
psychology
of
an
act
that
he
himself
could
no
longer
explain
or
understand
.
It
would
have
been
easier
had
she
been
more
complex
,
more
feminine
—
if
he
could
have
counted
on
her
imaginative
sympathy
or
her
moral
obtuseness
—
but
he
was
sure
of
neither
.
He
was
sure
of
nothing
but
that
,
for
a
time
,
he
must
avoid
her
.
Glennard
could
not
rid
himself
of
the
delusion
that
by
and
by
his
action
would
cease
to
make
its
consequences
felt
.
He
would
not
have
cared
to
own
to
himself
that
he
counted
on
the
dulling
of
his
sensibilities
:
he
preferred
to
indulge
the
vague
hypothesis
that
extraneous
circumstances
would
somehow
efface
the
blot
upon
his
conscience
.
In
his
worst
moments
of
self
-
abasement
he
tried
to
find
solace
in
the
thought
that
Flamel
had
sanctioned
his
course
.
Flamel
,
at
the
outset
,
must
have
guessed
to
whom
the
letters
were
addressed
;
yet
neither
then
nor
afterward
had
he
hesitated
to
advise
their
publication
.
This
thought
drew
Glennard
to
him
in
fitful
impulses
of
friendliness
,
from
each
of
which
there
was
a
sharper
reaction
of
distrust
and
aversion
.
When
Flamel
was
not
at
the
house
,
he
missed
the
support
of
his
tacit
connivance
;
when
he
was
there
,
his
presence
seemed
the
assertion
of
an
intolerable
claim
.
Early
in
the
winter
the
Glennards
took
possession
of
the
little
house
that
was
to
cost
them
almost
nothing
.
The
change
brought
Glennard
the
immediate
relief
of
seeing
less
of
his
wife
,
and
of
being
protected
,
in
her
presence
,
by
the
multiplied
preoccupations
of
town
life
.
Alexa
,
who
could
never
appear
hurried
,
showed
the
smiling
abstraction
of
a
pretty
woman
to
whom
the
social
side
of
married
life
has
not
lost
its
novelty
.
Glennard
,
with
the
recklessness
of
a
man
fresh
from
his
first
financial
imprudence
,
encouraged
her
in
such
little
extravagances
as
her
good
sense
at
first
resisted
.
Since
they
had
come
to
town
,
he
argued
,
they
might
as
well
enjoy
themselves
.
He
took
a
sympathetic
view
of
the
necessity
of
new
gowns
,
he
gave
her
a
set
of
furs
at
Christmas
,
and
before
the
New
Year
they
had
agreed
on
the
obligation
of
adding
a
parlour
-
maid
to
their
small
establishment
.
Providence
the
very
next
day
hastened
to
justify
this
measure
by
placing
on
Glennard
’
s
breakfast
-
plate
an
envelope
bearing
the
name
of
the
publishers
to
whom
he
had
sold
Mrs
.
Aubyn
’
s
letters
.
It
happened
to
be
the
only
letter
the
early
post
had
brought
,
and
he
glanced
across
the
table
at
his
wife
,
who
had
come
down
before
him
and
had
probably
laid
the
envelope
on
his
plate
.
She
was
not
the
woman
to
ask
awkward
questions
,
but
he
felt
the
conjecture
of
her
glance
,
and
he
was
debating
whether
to
affect
surprise
at
the
receipt
of
the
letter
,
or
to
pass
it
off
as
a
business
communication
that
had
strayed
to
his
house
,
when
a
check
fell
from
the
envelope
.
It
was
the
royalty
on
the
first
edition
of
the
letters
.
His
first
feeling
was
one
of
simple
satisfaction
.
The
money
had
come
with
such
infernal
opportuneness
that
he
could
not
help
welcoming
it
.
Before
long
,
too
,
there
would
be
more
;
he
knew
the
book
was
still
selling
far
beyond
the
publisher
’
s
previsions
.
He
put
the
check
in
his
pocket
and
left
the
room
without
looking
at
his
wife
.
On
the
way
to
his
office
the
habitual
reaction
set
in
.
The
money
he
had
received
was
the
first
tangible
reminder
that
he
was
living
on
the
sale
of
his
self
-
esteem
.
The
thought
of
material
benefit
had
been
overshadowed
by
his
sense
of
the
intrinsic
baseness
of
making
the
letters
known
;
now
he
saw
what
an
element
of
sordidness
it
added
to
the
situation
and
how
the
fact
that
he
needed
the
money
,
and
must
use
it
,
pledged
him
more
irrevocably
than
ever
to
the
consequences
of
his
act
.
It
seemed
to
him
,
in
that
first
hour
of
misery
,
that
he
had
betrayed
his
friend
anew
.
When
,
that
afternoon
,
he
reached
home
earlier
than
usual
,
Alexa
’
s
drawing
-
room
was
full
of
a
gayety
that
overflowed
to
the
stairs
.
Flamel
,
for
a
wonder
,
was
not
there
;
but
Dresham
and
young
Hartly
,
grouped
about
the
tea
-
table
,
were
receiving
with
resonant
mirth
a
narrative
delivered
in
the
fluttered
staccato
that
made
Mrs
.
Armiger
’
s
conversation
like
the
ejaculations
of
a
startled
aviary
.
She
paused
as
Glennard
entered
,
and
he
had
time
to
notice
that
his
wife
,
who
was
busied
about
the
tea
-
tray
,
had
not
joined
in
the
laughter
of
the
men
.
